How to build a pure Ranger?

[Maelodic]

Hey-o

I'm trying to figure out my feats/enhancements for a Ranger. I want to do a hybrid of both Ranged and Melee damage so I figure that DWS with a splash into Tempest/AA would probably be best.

I like to sneak around, but I like to do it in a way where I sneak in, murder everybody one at a time if I can't take them all on, or just all of them at once starting by killing the most vulnerable target, and then repeat. I like to Solo, and that's 90% of my gameplay. I'm not expecting to be a force to be reckoned with in EE- this is a "Just experience the game" character.

I can't really figure out how to build this and fit everything in, in a nice clean way.

Race would probably either be Halfling or Elf, but only if I have enough room to invest into the tree.
Halfling would benefit from 3 extra sneak attack dies, and a dodge cap increase. One feat later and you can use the dragonmark line to get you up to the top of the guile line, which allows you to have some extra healing power that synergizes from the massive amount positive energy boost in DWS.

Elf's major benefit besides the extra to-hit/damage/dodge would be to DEX to damage for longbows. They have some other nifty toys too, and the displacement dragonmark and the no-save negative level debuff are both really awesome too- however these both are a huge AP investment. Halfling's last guile will be at 16, Elf's DEX to damage would be at 22.

Feats:
Really simple to flesh out feats because Rangers get so many for free, not sure what to do with them though. Ones without question marks are definitely a good idea.
Point Blank Shot
Imp. Crit Ranged
Imp. Crit Slashing/Pierce
Precision
Rapid Shot
Blinding Speed
Combat Archery
Dodge?
Empower Healing?
Mobility?
Spring Attack?
Dragonmark?
Quick Draw? (shrug)

Enhancements:
Here's where the tricky part is.
AA:
Conjure arrows is 2 AP, and is monumentally helpful.
3 AP total for the Magical Training feat essentially gives you 100 SP and Echos of Power. This will be really good pre-20, as Echoes of Power equals infinite healing and never going "Oops" when you've ran out of potions or anything along those lines.
Having a single imbue is 2 AP, and probably worth it.

8(or 6) AP total.

DWS:
41 Points minimum for Horizon Shot. (6 AP for core)
I can't decide between Exposing Strike or Sniper Shot. I know that sounds silly. Sniper Shot is probably better because of Manyshot, but I can switch around.
I like having faster sneaking 3 for my playstyle, which is 6 AP total.
Increased Empathy/Versatile Empathy is 75 Positive for 6 AP, no brainer.
Emphatic healing may be cool, but I have mixed feelings about it. It will be useful leveling but endgame won't be fantastic.
Aimed Shot is okay, but Leg Shot is fantastic so I'll be getting it. 2 AP
Leg Shot synergizes so well with the sneak style it's not even funny. 2 AP
Extra Favored Enemy. Self Explainitory. 2 AP
Heavy Draw. 2 AP
Head Shot. 2 AP
Undecided on Imp. Archer's Focus. Synergy with Aimed Shot but you tend to have a lot more actives to spam.
Hunter's Mercy line- Not sure about this. I like killer but Hunter's Mercy sucks for soloing. I will have extra AP to hit the 40 mark anyway, so I'll probably take this. 14 AP.
42 AP spent.

Tempest:
11 required for Graceful Death
21 required for Deflect Arrows/Elaborate Parry
Whirling Blades line - 8 AP
Core - Deflect Arrows - 4 AP
Haste Boost III - 6 AP
Improved Parry III - 6 AP?
Improved Dodge Line - 6 AP?

30 AP Spent

That's how I'd flesh it out without racial lines.

With Racial lines the bare minimum requirement is:
0 in AA
41 in DWS
11 in Temp

52 Spent total
28 For racial (excessive, probably)
This would probably be the Elf path.

The minimums I'd probably like to hit in regards to that are:
3 in AA (Conjure Arrows)
41 in DWS
21 in Temp (100% offhand)

65 Spent Total
15 for Racials (probably take a point out of temp and sacrifice 100% offhand for the last point of the racial)
This would probably be the Halfling path.


Not really sure how this would perform. I'm probably going to go for Shadowdancer, but again, I'm not sure.

[xjac]

Get maximize if you're only healing yourself with CSW spell, Empowered Healing if you're also using Rej Cocoon. Get quickdraw if you're wand whipping and if you know you will carry around a truckload of weapons. Rapid Shot is a auto-granted feat at Ranger 2. You can also take Magic Training as a feat.
Spring Attack line is nice; but you already have used 4 heroic feats (IC:Ranged, IC:Pirece/Slashing, Precision, Point Blank), 3 more feats left, and spring attack line requires 3 feat.

So you can choose between Magic Training, Maximize, and Quick Draw vs Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack:
Echo of Power, Double Healing Power, and faster weapon swap
vs
7% dodge, +2 ac, and no to-hit penalty while meleeing and moving

Elven Grace only requires 16 ap, unless you're also counting Binding Shadow, Displacement, Skill, and Elven Weapon Training IV (for 6 ap, that's a lot of goodies).
-Elven Accuracy (1) Elven Dex (3) Elven Accuracy (4) Elven Dex (6) Elven Wep I (8) Elven Wep II (10) Elven Wep III (12) Dragon Mark Focus (13) Shadow Walk (15) Elven Grace (16) Displacement (18) Elven Wep IV (20) Skill (21) Binding Shadow (22)

Since you are targeting horizontal shot, I would suggest taking Sniper Shot instead of Exposing Strike, as you can always use a bow to hit at close distance, but you can't use a melee weapon to hit monster from afar.

This is what I come up with judging from your preference:
Far Shot (1) Stealthy III (7) Sneak Attack I (8) Increased Empathy III (11) Versatile Empathy II (13) Faster Sneaking III (19) Sniper Shot (20) Sneak Attack II (21) Aimed shot (23) Leg Shot (25) Favored Accuracy I (27) Favored Damage I (28) Dexterity I (30) Extra Favored Enemy (32) Heavy Draw (34) Head Shot (36) Dexterity II (38) Mark of the Hunted (39) - 1 Filler

-Versatile Empathy only have 2 ranks.
-You need at least one rank in Favored Accuracy and Favored Damage to get Extra Favored Enemy
-To get Hunter's Mercy, you would need still need 1 ap for Killer, so at least 3 more ap
-Stealthy III gives 1 sneak attack die

Shield of Whirling Steel (1) Whirling Blade I (3) Improved Reaction II (5) Haste II (9) Tempest I (10) Graceful Death (11) Haste III (13) Whirling Blade II (15) Whirling Blade III (17) Improved Reaction III (18) Improved Dodge II (20) Deflect Arrow (21) Whirling Blade IV (23) Improved Dodge III (24) Improved Parry III (30)
-I put it in a way so the important ones are taken right after hitting requirement (Haste and Tempest I after 5; Graceful Death after 10; Deflect Arrow after 20)


With these two tree alone, you will have 71 or 72 ap spent depending on what you pick for the DWS filler, combined with 3 from AA, you will have 6 or 5 ap left. Have you thought about going human? You can get damage boost, one extra stat, and 10% heal amp with just 5 ap; also one extra feat and skill point per level. Ddoor is available if you are willing to part with the extra feat, and 8 ap. -Damage Boost (1) Stat (3) Improved Recovery (5) Dragonmark Focus (6) Lesser Dragonmark (8).

If you want to take the elven line, 22 + 42 + 3 = 67; 13 ap left, leaving you just enough to get Haste III. (This is assuming you take something that needs 2 ap as filler in DWS tree)



I will probably did something similar to this on my pure ranger.

Elf [19]
Elven Accuracy I (1) Elven Weapon Training I (3) Dragonmark Focus (4) Elven Dexterity I (6) Lesser Dragonmark (8) Elven Weapon Training II (10) Greater Dragonmark (12) Elven Weapon Training III (14) Elven Accuracy II (15) Elven Grace (16) Skill (17) Elven weapon Training IV (19)

Deepwood Stalker [41]
Far Shot (1) Stealthy III (7) Sneak Attack I (8) Increased Empathy III (11) Versatile Empathy II (13) Faster Sneaking III (19) Sniper Shot (20) Sneak Attack II (21) Aimed shot (23) Leg Shot (25) Favored Accuracy I (27) Favored Damage I (28) Dexterity I (30) Extra Favored Enemy (32) Heavy Draw (34) Head Shot (36) Mark of the Hunted (37) Killer (38) Hunter's Mercy (40) Horizontal Shot (41)

Tempest [13]
Shield of Whirling Steel (1) Whirling Blade I (3) Improved Reaction II (5) Haste II (9) Tempest I (10) Graceful Death (11) Haste III (13)

Arcane Archer [4]
Arcane Archer (1) Energy of the Wild III (4)

3 ap left, I can either put into Feywild Tap (10% incorporeal), or add more dexterity and accuracy.

Feat would be: IC: Ranged, IC:Slashing/Piercing, Point Blank, Precision, Quick Draw, Empowered Healing (Rej Cocoon Twist), Extend (for Displacement).

-I swapped Dexterity for Hunter's Mercy, Killer is the filler for the Deepwood Stalker Tree. I took Hunter's Mercy because the +3[W] probably works very well with Manyshot.
-In the Elf Tree I have a choice between one more Dexterity and 2% to-hit vs 5 times/rest 10% incorporeal.
-I didn't take conjure arrows because I don't mind carrying the extra arrows in my quivers. If you get like 3 Large Thin Quivers, you will be carrying 3000 arrows of a type at the same time, and you can put 3 different types, making it effectively 9000 arrows to use; plus the 100 arrows in your arrow slot, you're carrying over 9000 arrows, more than enough.
-Took 3 ranks of Haste Boost because I'm saving the twist for other ability.

[saco]

I've done the DWS/Tempest and find it pretty underwhealming compared to the AA tree. While I love the concepts of the DWS Tree, it needs some serious tweaking to be comparable to the AA tree as that 250 dmg arrow is that insanely good. Not to mention you have MULTIPLE 3[w] attacks on insanely shot cooldowns unlike the DWS which are on lengthy cool downs. Merciful Shot is a bit of a pain to get right as you not only does the mob need to be equal to or less than 20% health but also need to be able to sneak attack the mob. Many times have I made the shot and not get that 500 dmg because I did not have the bluff active from Sniper Shot. Maybe invisibility guards could fix that issue, dunno. Just seems a lot of hassle for a soloer.

While dex dmg to bows is nice I think there is much more synergy going str build since you don't have to wast APs just for that modifier change (which is ******** that Ninja Spy gets it pretty much for free). The AA or DWS should have an enhancement option for that. AC different is very moot and people bring up saves which unless your doing EE stuff and really need that slight save difference increase I don't think it really merits the sacrifice. I think you would get much better returns by investing it into class trees or splashing in another class and using those points there.

Quick Draw in the past is an utter pointless feat as you are never constantly swapping weapons, is a sec or 1/2 a sec worth a feat? Ranged to melee is the extent of swapping.

Spring attack is pointless I'd say since it's ridiculously easy for dodge. Before I TRed my pure ranger I have the Improved mobility line and with one dodge item (only a 4%) I was 1% over my cap. I had the Dodge and Mobility feats. No penalty to moving is pretty much pointless, if it was worth any merit don't you think many would pick that line up? Shot on the Run is about as meaningful as Spring Attack.